Autonomous working machine such as autonomous lawn mower

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10321625-B2
Application number	US-201615394889-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 30, 2016
Priority date	Dec 30, 2015
Publication date	Jun 18, 2019
Grant date	Jun 18, 2019

Abstract

The invention regards an autonomous working machine comprising drive means, current position estimation means, control means including a driving control unit and a camera. With aid of the current position estimation means the current position of the autonomous working machine is estimated. Furthermore, the driving control unit generates driving commands for the driving means on the basis of an intended movement of the autonomous working machine and the estimated current position. The camera is configured to capture images of the environment of the working machine. For estimating the current position, the current position estimation means is formed by the control means, which is configured to apply visual odometry on the captured images for estimating the current position of the working machine.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An autonomous working machine comprising:
driving means;
memory for storing information indicating an intended path which the autonomous working machine shall follow;
control means including a current position estimation unit for estimation of a current position of the autonomous working machine, and a driving control unit for generating initial driving commands for the driving means, wherein the driving commands are generated on the basis of an estimated current position such that the resulting operation of the driving means leads to the autonomous working machine following precisely the intended path; and
a camera configured to capture images of an environment of the autonomous working machine,
wherein the control means is configured to apply visual odometry on the captured images for estimating the current position of the autonomous working machine,
to compare the estimated current position to a corresponding position that should be reached in case that the autonomous working machine would perfectly follow the intended driving path,
to generate a correction signal on the basis of a difference thereof, and
to add the correction signal to the initial driving commands, and wherein

the control means is configured to accumulate the results of the visual odometry calculation since the detection of a vicinity of a charging station for the autonomous working machine or leaving the same to start a working operation, and to use the accumulated results in order to guide back the autonomous working machine to the charging station.

2. An autonomous working machine according to claim 1 , wherein
the camera is a stereo camera.

3. An autonomous working machine according to claim 2 , wherein
the control means is configured to compute 3D data from stereo images captured by the stereo camera and use the 3D data to improve current position estimation.

4. An autonomous working machine according to claim 1 , wherein
the control means is configured to use ground plane assumption to improve current position estimation.

5. An autonomous working machine according to claim 1 , wherein
the camera is mounted on the working machine so as to face a forward driving direction.

6. An autonomous working machine according to claim 1 , wherein
the control means is configured to adapt a time gap between images used for visual odometry according to the intended movement.

7. An autonomous working machine according to claim 6 , wherein
time gaps are shorter for turning movements than for straight drive or slow movement.

8. An autonomous working machine according to claim 6 , wherein
visual odometry is performed using different time gaps and results are merged afterwards.

9. An autonomous working machine according to claim 1 , wherein
results of visual odometry is merged with results for position estimation based on wheel odometry or IMU.

10. An autonomous working machine according to claim 1 , wherein
the control means is configured to detect wheel slip on the basis of said difference.

11. An autonomous working machine according to claim 1 , wherein
the autonomous vehicle further comprises recognition means to recognize predetermined events and the control means is configured to store information on occurrence of such events related to an estimated current position at the time of occurrence.

12. An autonomous working machine according to claim 1 , wherein
the autonomous working machine is an autonomous lawn mower or an autonomous scarifier.

Assignees

• Honda Res Inst Europe Gmbh

Inventors

• Einecke Nils
• Franzius Mathias
• Deigmöller Jörg

Classifications

• H04N13/204

  using stereoscopic image cameras (stereoscopic photography G03B35/00) · CPC title

• A01D2101/00

  Lawn-mowers · CPC title

• H04N7/183

  for receiving images from a single remote source · CPC title

• A01D34/008 Primary

  for automated or remotely controlled operation · CPC title

• G06T7/70

  Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras (camera calibration G06T7/80) · CPC title